A method of thermal development of flexographic printing elements, having steps of: fixing a relief precursor a movable support; repeatedly moving the support in a multitude of movement cycles; heating the relief precursor to a temperature sufficient to cause the uncured portions of the photopolymer layer to soften or liquefy; contacting with a development medium; Single movement cycles are carried out with different heating powers and different contacting with the developing medium such that one may improve the registration accuracy of the printing element, ease removal of functional layers, smoothen the relief plate precursor surface, and address heat build-up problem.